Gladys Berejiklian med rel – Opal bus rollout reaches halfway mark as more buses in Western Sydney go live

Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian today announced Opal will go live on another 720 buses in Western Sydney, North Sydney and Sutherland in the next week, as the rollout of Opal on buses passes the halfway mark.

Next Tuesday 26 August 330 buses across Western Sydney and the Sutherland Shire will go live with Opal, giving thousands more customers access to cheaper fares and more convenient travel. Opal will also expand onto all State Transit buses in North Sydney from today.

Ms Berejiklian said these latest milestones mean customers can now tap on and tap off all suburban and intercity trains, all Sydney Ferries, and from next week, 2,890 buses across Sydney.
“The take up of Opal has been extraordinary and we’re continuing to see record numbers of people sign up to Opal every week. There have now been more than 570,000 Opal cards issued – more than 55,000 last week alone,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“I am so pleased we have now passed the halfway point of the bus rollout and are on track to have Opal on all 5,000 buses across Sydney and the regions by the end of the year.
“I expect the number of Opal customers to increase as more buses get switched on and customers realise they can take advantage of cheaper, easier and more convenient journeys across the public transport network.”
The latest rollout onto Western Sydney buses covers 7.7 million customer journeys a year across 55 suburbs including Parramatta, Granville, Auburn, Fairfield, Bankstown and Revesby.
The expansion into St George and Sutherland covers buses in Hurstville, Menai, Sutherland, Miranda, Cronulla, Heathcote and Bundeena which carry 5.8 million customer journeys a year.
Ms Berejiklian said with the clock ticking on the retirement of 14 paper ticket types on 1 September, including the MyTrain weekly, now is the time to sign up to Opal.
“Customers can now get their Opal card from 1,000 retail stores, more than 50 pop-up kiosks or the 24 hour Opal website and 13 OPAL call centre,” she said.
“It is important that pensioners and seniors remember they can keep buying and using their paper PET tickets after 1 September, after the release of the Gold Senior/Pensioner Opal card, and well into the future.”